How to reshape US policy to favour Palestinians: Win the hearts and minds of its leaders

Members of the US Congress attend a candlelight vigil one month after the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in 2023. American politicians need to hear more stories from the Palestinian side. AFP

Last week, the Arab American Institute, Churches for Middle East Peace and the American Friends Service Committee brought together a group of Palestinian Americans with family in Gaza to meet members of the US Congress and media. Their two-day presence in Washington was designed to give voice to Palestinian victims of Israel’s assault on Gaza and to put a human face on those who have suffered.

US government officials have frequently met Israeli families and heard their stories. Palestinians have not had the same opportunity. (Recall the controversy that erupted at last year’s Democratic National Convention when the party refused to invite a Palestinian American who had lost family members in Gaza to speak alongside an Israeli family whose son was held by Hamas as a hostage.)

Planning for the Washington visit had begun in the summer, but it was delayed by factors ranging from congressional recesses to the current government shutdown. When the date had been finalised and President Donald Trump announced his “peace plan”, a few naysayers expressed concern that the fanfare accompanying the plan’s signing might dampen interest in hearing from Palestinians.

Mr Trump got his victory lap and photo-ops in Israel and Egypt where leaders heaped praise on him. Media commentators spoke of the moment as “historic” and “transformative”, and TV cameras recorded joyous demonstrations in Jerusalem and deeply emotional scenes of Israeli families reunited with their loved ones held captive for two years. There were not only media accounts of Israelis returning home, but some papers even provided photos and short biographies of the Israelis who had died while held by Hamas. For days afterwards, there were front page stories and photos of Israelis burying those whose bodies had been returned.

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But during all this western coverage, Palestinians remained as objectified or invisible as they had been two years ago when this war had begun. Despite public opinion having shifted towards Palestinians, US politicians and the mainstream media still shied away from humanising and personalising Palestinian victims.

To be sure, there was media coverage of Gaza’s rubble. And there were photos of throngs of Palestinians greeting the buses returning some of the 1,700 young Palestinian men who Israel had held hostage since early in the war. But there were no names, no photographs of mothers holding their sons or children with their fathers. This is what is meant by being objectified.

When a people are reduced to a faceless mass or body counts without personalities, they can be dismissed. Their suffering isn’t felt, their stories aren’t known, and their humanity can’t be affirmed. This objectification and depersonalisation – the hallmarks of ingrained and unconscious bigotry – was what the visiting Palestinian Americans were challenging.

The group that was assembled came from six states. They were men and women, Muslims and Christians, each with profoundly moving experiences and stories to tell.

For example, one had travelled to Gaza in September 2023 to make his annual visit to see his family. When the war began, he decided to stay to see his loved ones through whatever hardships they would encounter. He was with them during their forced moves and their hunger. He lived throughout bombing raids and pulled the shattered body of his little niece out of the rubble left when her home was destroyed. He finally returned to the US just a few months ago.

Others had come to the US as students and stayed. They, too, were frequent visitors to Gaza and retained close ties with their families. They brought photos of their loved ones, those who survived as well as those who had perished in the bombing or died because of the absence of medical services. They had pictures of their homes, now destroyed. An especially poignant photo showed a niece and nephew playing on the rubble of what had once been their home.

Peace can come only with the recognition of Palestinian humanity

And, of special importance, each member of the delegation had stories of living through Israeli bombings, shootings and the tragic deaths of loved ones that pre-dated October 7, 2023.

Their stories and photographs painted a powerful and yet painful portrait of a reality that the senators and representatives with whom they met needed to hear. They reminded them of the uncomfortable truth that Palestinian children have names, that Palestinians aren’t just a faceless body-count of collateral damage, and that those who perished had been killed by Israel with bombs supplied by Congress.

In the end, the group asked the House of Representatives and Senate to organise an official delegation to visit Gaza, to see with their own eyes the devastation wrought by Israel, and to meet Palestinians directly and be able to assess their needs. A number of legislators responded positively to this request.

The visit was a success. The testimonies of these brave Palestinian Americans were able to challenge legislators and media to recognise that the current celebrations are, at best, premature and that a “peace plan” must be more than a real estate and investment programme and focused on much more than just making Israelis feel secure.

Peace can come only with the recognition of Palestinian humanity, of their individual and collective trauma, and of their needs for security, justice and healing in the wake of this latest devastating assault. More such delegations will follow.